Between the Italian listed companies, at the end of 2020 the average shareholding of the first shareholder it touched the 47,6%, slightly down on long-term values (48,7% in 1998), while the families were the main reference shareholders in 64% of cases. The numbers are contained in the Consob 2022 report on corporate governance.
The analysis also shows that, compared to 2019, there is a slight decrease in the presence of institutional investors among the relevant shareholders, against an increase for the first time in the last decade in the presence of Italian institutional investors, which hold a significant stake in 18 listed companies.
The progressive reduction of the diffusion and intensity of the separation of ownership and control, with a decrease in the incidence on the list of companies belonging to a vertical group.
Increase instead the diffusion of the increased vote, envisaged at the end of 2020 in the articles of association of 64 issuers, representing just over 17% of the total market value; shareholders accrued increased voting rights in 40 companies.
As for Assembly, the 2021 season of the largest listed companies recorded a shareholder participation equal, on average, to 74,6%, up by about 5 percentage points compared to 2012 (first year of the survey). Italian institutional investors attended 95 meetings, the highest figure since 2012.
On average, the remuneration policies in force were approved with a favorable vote by approximately two thirds of the share capital and by almost 90% of the share capital represented at the meeting. With reference to the advisory vote on the fees paid for the previous year, the votes in favor were 66% of the share capital and 87,7% of those represented at the meeting.
Paolo Savona, number one of Consob, also underlines that two other signs of change in the governance of listed companies also emerge from the 2022 Report: the increase in the "number of committees on sustainability within the Board” and the improvement of “skills of administrators, both on sustainability and digitisation/computerisation”.
Furthermore, Savona recalls that the Corporate Governance Code introduced the concept of "sustainable success”: listed companies therefore have the obligation to “illustrate how the remuneration policy of directors contributes to the pursuit of long-term interests and to the sustainability of the company. Clear principle - concludes the president of Consob - the application of which, however, is difficult".
